1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to automotive vehicles. More particularly this invention is a new combination or arrangement of a power steering pump, air conditioning compressor, and a coupling for delivering power from the power steering pump to the air conditioning compressor.
More and more accessory and auxiliary equipment is being used in automobiles and other vehicles. Therefore it is becoming increasingly important that the accessories and auxiliary equipment take up as little space as reasonably possible. It is also very important that the equipment be as light as possible and still do the desired job. Many automotive vehicles have a power steering pump and an air conditioning compressor. The pump and compressor have been belt driven with the equipment located at the front of the engine in line with the other belt driven equipment. In some applications, there is not enough space to do this. The equipment has to then be mounted in line. The power steering pump delivers power to the air conditioning compressor. A coupling inter-connects the power steering pump and the air conditioning compressor. Usually the power steering pump has an output shaft and a coupling is connected to the output shaft. The coupling transmits the power from the power steering pump output shaft to the air conditioning compressor.
A highly important part of the combination of the power steering pump, and air conditioning compressor is the coupling. Not only must the coupling provide power to the air conditioning compressor from the power steering pump but it has the important function of accommodating misalignment between the connected shafts. The coupling must be torsionally rigid and capable of accommodating angular, axial, and parallel offset misalignments.
2. Description of Prior Art
With this invention the air conditioning compressor is not belt driven. Our combination of elements results in a 100% efficiency while belted drives experience frictional power losses. The high radial loads of the belted drives and their affects on bearings and the equipment are eliminated. Radial loads are a prime concern in current air conditioner compressor clutch designs. Because of space limitations attempts have been made in the past to place an air conditioning compressor in line behind the power steering pump. However, problems have arisen with regard to the testing of the combination of the power steering pump, air conditioning compressor, and coupling. The coupling was a rubber doughnut type flex element bolted directly to the drive cup of the air conditioning compressor. The other side of the doughnut was bolted to an extension shaft. The pump end of the shaft had a female spline engaged to the male splined shaft. The rubber coupling was designed to take angular and parallel misalignment when the shafts are close together. The wide spacing between the shafts caused parallel misalignment to be accommodated as angular deflection at the spline engagement. Torsional wind-up in the rubber coupling caused the drive cup to unscrew when there was a change in torque. Obviously this was unsatisfactory.